Peaches in Darkness
by SisCo Kid
Summary: Months of the same thing have left Riku bored and depressed. One day he meets someone who desires to change this.
1. Chapter 1

SisCoKid: A random project I felt like starting. I'm playing off Riku's ability to smell darkness. He can smell more than darkness now.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 1

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It was funny; the way he observed his surroundings theses days. With a blindfold over his eyes, he couldn't see, but he still knew what was around him. The form of things, what was solid and what was not. He never tripped over cracks in the ground nor bump in to random people. He never had problems identifying people because his sense of smell was superb. A little too good at times. The first few times he tried to brew coffee, he burnt it and the stench stuck in his nose for hours.

Riku stood up from the table he was sitting at and walked over to his kitchen area. The coffee smelled like it was just about ready. The coffee maker beeped three times, giving him the approval he needed to pour a cup for himself. After adding two packs of sugar and three creamers, he made his way back to his dining table. He set the coffee on the table and relaxed in his chair. He let his head hang back, allowing his long silver hair to hang down.

Life was getting stale. Everything was always the same, nothing new ever popped up to surprise him. He sighed before sitting up straight.

People thought of him as some sort of protector. A hero that defended the people of this city from the heartless. Unlike other places he had been to, this place was constantly flooded with heartless. At times, there seemed no end to the hordes.

He shrugged as he picked up his coffee and took a sip. All he was doing here was waiting for Sora. There were just too many heartless to try and protect everybody. He no longer cried when he could not save someone, it was just too common. He still fought though, more for training than for anything else.

Days leading to weeks and so onto months. It was draining to see how powerless he truly was. He couldn't fight with his full strength, there was too much a risk of losing himself in the power. Unlike Sora, he fought using the darkness and too much of it could consume him.

"UGH!" He shook his head and gulped down the rest of the coffee, burning his mouth. Too much thinking, it was bad for him to dwell on his situation.

He stood up and walked to his door. Killing heartless would help to clear his mind. It was the only thing that did these days.

After climbing fifteen flights of stairs, he stopped at the door that led to the roof. A man stood guard there. Riku had never seen him, but he knew him to be the man that often stood guard during the late shift. His name was Mr. Marcus. They talked from time to time, usually depending on Riku's mood. They would not talk today.

"Heading out early today, eh?" His voice was deep and gravely.

Riku nodded.

Mr. Marcus opened the door without another word. That's why Riku liked Mr. Marcus.

Riku walked outside and made his way to the edge of the roof. He peered out and got a sense of things. Here and there, fights between human and heartless were underway. Most likely because of the escort services that were so popular at night. From time to time even he would get an offer to escort people around. Unless the price was high enough, he just told people to stay inside at night. Not that there was an actual day in The World That Never Was. There was just a period of about eight hours when the streets were safe to walk.

Riku jumped off the edge and dropped head first at a suicidal speed. Moments before he would have smashed to the concrete, he flipped around and landed softly on his feet. He often wondered if he could do that so effortlessly without his blindfold on. He figured that his sight might impair him with fear.

He decided to head for the main square of the city. There were always a bunch of heartless there. Halfway it started to drizzle. He pulled his hood over his head and allowed himself to smile. No matter the mood, he was always thankful for the coat Diz gave him. Not only did it protect him from the rain, but also hid him from people who wanted him dead.

Before reaching the square, he encountered a handful of heartless. Just enough to warm him up for a good rumble.

Riku came to a stop and stood. He was finally at the square. It was about to start; they knew he was here. He exhaled long and slow, prepping for the fight that was now charging his way. Some on feet, some underground, and a few in the air. They came at him just in time to be diced to pieces. He kicked forward, disappearing from view for a few seconds before reappearing behind a group of heartless who were now disgruntled. With two slashes from Way to the dawn, they were no more. He then spun around and tossed his blade at two heartless that were trying to attack him from behind, taking out both with one hit.

The heartless, now cautious, created a circle to surround Riku. One, two, three and more heartless jumped forward only to be struck down. No matter the number he killed, more replaced the fallen. Riku noticed the perimeter around him getting smaller by the minute. At moments, he could almost feel their claws on his being.

"Enough," he growled as he jumped about twenty feet and hung in the air. He lifted Way to the dawn in the air and whispered under his breath. The sound of thunder boomed throughout the city.

The square was silent.

Riku descended to the ground and lowered his hood. The smell of smoke flooded his nostrils. With no more heartless, he was left with only the sound of his own heavy breathing and the rain that pattered softly on the ground. He waited for a few minutes until his breath went back to normal. He concluded that the square was clear of heartless for the time being.

'Strange.' There was usually enough to keep him fighting for an hour. That had only took about ten minutes. Maybe he could search around the city and find some more heartless. As he walked, he picked up a fruity scent. It was very pleasant, but out of place in the vacant city street. The smell was getting stronger as if he was walking by a fruit vendor. Such an amazing smell, like peaches. He almost found himself getting lost in it.

"Pretty impressive back there."

Riku had to use all his restraint to keep from taking the persons head off. This did not happen, nobody snuck up on him, ever! His over reaction was to be expected. He could normally sense people; not so with this person. It was more a reaction of fright than anything else. He only knew that it was a girl that now had Way to the dawn pressed up against her throat. "What are you," he asked with authority in his voice.

She lowered his weapon from her throat. "Not one for compliments, are you?" This was not the voice of a child, nor that of an adult. He guess her to be around his age.

His forehead crinkled up from the confusion. She had just lowered his weapon. Whether she used a lot of force or a little; there was power in this person. This person that he could not feel. "What are you," he repeated, his weapon now held at guard. He listened to her light steps as she walked around him. He spun around to continue facing her.

"That's a rather rude question. It's obvious I'm a girl; you should be asking who am I."

He took a quick step forward and swiped at her, but ended up hitting open air. He stumbled forward and landed on his hands and knees. The weight of two feet landed on top of his back.

"Lack people skills much?" He took a swipe at her, but she jumped off his back. He listened for her to land, but she didn't.

Riku turned from side to side trying to locate her. Try as he might, he could not sense her, but the smell of peaches still hung heavy in the air. "Never mind what are you. What do you want!"

The tips of warm little fingers grazed both of his cheeks. "Ah!" He jumped back and waved her away. He felt his face heat up as he dropped his guard.

"I don't really remember." He heard trouble in her voice, but not for long. "But I know you'll be fun for the time being."

Riku raised way to the dawn. "What is that suppose to mean?"

"We'll just have to see." Her voice was traveling in a circle over his head.

"Why are you bothering me," he exclaimed.

"I don't know Riku. You were alone, thought I'd give you some company."

He tightened his grip on Way to the dawn. "How do you know my name?" Who was this person? Nobody knew his name here and that was the way it was suppose to be. The people in this city didn't call him by name; they had made up one for him. This girl knew his name though and that just added to the suspicion surrounding her. Was she with the organization?

There was silence.

"Answer me!"

"Does it matter?" She paused. "Don't you want to know my name?" She asked brightly.

He put his face in his hand. He knew there would be no relevant answers from her. "Whats your name?"

"Noir! I like it. Do you like it Riku!"

He felt like if he said that he didn't, she might change her name. He scratched the back of his head. It was sort of a pretty name. "Um, sure."

"Wait! Stop getting off topic!" He shook his head. The excitement in her voice had thrown him off guard. This girl was possibly dangerous and he could not allow himself to forget that.

"Man you're a stiff. Relax, I only wanted to compliment you. The rest was just me having fun."

Riku wasn't exactly sure he wanted to believe this.

She sighed. "I'll be going now." He listened as she walked away. "See you around, Riku."

"Hopefully not," Riku muttered to himself as the smell peaches faded. His cheeks heated up as he recalled the feeling of her touch on his cheeks.

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SisCoKid: Well! More eventually. I have other work that has to be updated first. Thanks for reading, hope it was enjoyable.


	2. Chapter 2

SisCoKid: A month of break from school. Yea!

Disclaimer: I don't claim any ownership of kingdom Hearts whats so ever.

Chapter 2

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Riku had spent a majority of his week on his couch. Sitting, laying, sleeping, eating, pretty much just wasting time. He let out a exasperate breath as he set up from his laying position. Since he got to the world, he had been so busy fighting and training, he had neglected to make any true friends here. Though he had lived in this building for quite some time, he really didn't know anybody else. A week spent indoors with nobody to talk to was beginning to have its toil on him.

Riku stood up and moved to the kitchen, but returned to the couch moments later. He had forgot that he was practically out of food. His stomach growled, letting him know what had to be done. Riku fidgeted uncomfortable. He didn't like to admit it, but that girl had really unnerved him. Having some one who he couldn't sense, but only smell was unnerving. Sure, he could tell when she was around, but what good was that if he couldn't tell exactly where she was. It would be like knowing when someone was about to kill you and just having to wait for it.

Riku got up again and started pacing. Whether he liked it or not, he would have to get some groceries. He grimaced. Why did food have to be such a great weakness? Here was a man that could kill thousands of heartless, but take away his food and end of story. 'Fine, I guess I'm heading out.' He walked to the closet and took out his coat.

Mr. Marcus was standing guard today. "Haven't seen you out for a while. Sick were you? My wife would of gladly taken care of you ya know?"

Riku smiled. While it was true, he had no friends. He did have a lot of people that thought highly of him and believed they owed him a debt of some sort for fighting so many heartless. Riku shook his head. "I wasn't sick. Just getting some rest for once." He faked a yawn. "I guess everybody needs it from time to time."

"Alright then, but you know where to go if you get sick hear?"

Riku nodded before walking outside. His entire body relaxed as he walked around in the fresh air. His skin shivered against the chilly windy. He allowed himself a smile. His smile dropped the second he picked up the scent of peaches in the wind.

He turned in the direction of the wind. "Where are you?" He demanded. He listened as light feet landed on the roof.

"Lucky me. I got to see Riku's smile." She walked closer, but stopped when he withdrew Way to The Dawn. "Where have you been? I haven't seen out since the last time we talked."

With his other hand, Riku rested his face in his palm and grumbled. 'How the heck did she find me?' He had wanted to get his grocery and sneak back without her noticing. "Have you been waiting for me here?"

"Nope! I just got lucky. Imagine that."

"Yea, imagine that..." Riku didn't trust her much. With her personality though, it was hard to feel threatened. He did away with Way to The Dawn and headed for the edge of the roof.

"Where ya going?" Noir asked, following behind him.

Riku jumped off the edge. He figured he could just ignore her. She would get bored with him and go away. She seemed to be the type with the short attention span, or at least he hoped she was.

He listened, but didn't hear her land.

"Boo!" She yelled right in front of his face.

"Wah!" Riku lost ten lives as he stumbled back onto his butt. He jumped up and tried to tackle her. He missed. "What do you want!" He listened to her laugh.

"I already told you. You're fun. This last weeks been pretty boring without you." she said this from right next to him.

Riku curiously reached to his right and placed his hand on her. For some reason, she allowed him to do this.

"That would be my boob..."

"Oh! Sorry." Riku retracted his hand and jumped back from her, his face as red as a cherry.

She was laughing again. "I was just kidding. That was more shoulder."

'Seriously!" Riku thought as his frustration began to rise. This girl was trying to drive him mad. He started walking, deciding to ignore her for sure this time.

"Where are we going?" She asked from above him.

He was realizing just how hard it was not to react to her. She surprised him every time she talked. Why couldn't she just pick a place and stay put?

"Don't you ever get bored? Being alone all the time has to be boring right?" she continued to question him.

What did she care if he was bored. His life had nothing to do with hers. Yes he was bored, but there was nothing that could be done about that. He was waiting for Sora and there wasn't much that could be done to make that any more lively. Besides for her being around it seemed. "Isn't there anybody else you could bother?"

"I suppose, but I found you first."

"How lucky of me," Riku grumbled.

A hand grazed his cheek. "I wouldn't call it luck Riku."

Before Riku could respond, she was gone. While her scent lingered, he was positive that she had gone somewhere else. He surprised himself when he realized he was frowning. Shouldn't he be glad she was gone? Wasn't she just an annoying that was distracting him from training. And though she didn't seem it, she could still be very dangerous.

The rest of his trip to and from the convenience store was fairly peacefully. He fought a handful of heartless that tried to ambushed him on the way back to his apartment. With a tight hold on his groceries, he jumped onto the side of his apartment building and darted up the wall to the roof. Riku got to the door, knocked, and then waited.

Mr. Marcus peeped through a hole before opening up for him. Riku was startled by mr. Marcus patting him on the back. "Good job Riku my boy. You did good!"

Riku nodded slowly as Mr. Marcus started laughed and didn't stop.

"You better hurry and get back to your room now." Mr. Marcus practically sang.

Riku did just that, he hurried down the stairs. Something was very wrong with Mr. Marcus. He never lost his composure like that usually.

Riku stopped dead in his tracks. He sniffed and did a double take.

Peaches...

She was here...

Noir was here. In his apartment building. As he walking down more stairs, the smell grew stronger. No, Noir wasn't just in the building. He stood outside of his door.

Noir was in his apartment.

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SisCokid: Thanks for reading.


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